People are getting $3 fines for 'behaving badly' in a Chinese park
On Sunday, Beijing's national parks had more than 500,000 visitors thanks to the Qingming Festival holiday.
However, the spike in visitors also saw a rise in the destruction of park property and littering. Recently, Chinese tourists made national headlines when they were caught climbing and kicking cherry blossom trees at Jingming Temple in Nanjing, China.
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Despite widespread criticism of such behaviour, visitors to one of Beijing's more popular parks, Yuyuantan Park in West Beijing, had no qualms about hanging from the branches of trees and picking flowers.
According to CCTV News, park officials had put up signs detailing behavioural guidelines around the park, but still the warnings went unheeded.
Left with no choice, the park's staff started to issue tickets to visitors partaking in "uncivilised" behaviour. The fine for picking flowers, climbing trees or causing damage to the park's property, costs 20 yuan ($3).
Although the fine is a petty amount, the park's manager, identified only as Tao, told Beijing News that the point is to educate visitors on park etiquette instead of truly punishing them.
"Punishment is not an end," he said. "We are hoping to protect the park environment and keep it in good order."
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